The state of Nebraska has awarded nearly $31 million in grants to bring broadband to unserved and underserved locations in the state. The majority of the funding will go to local providers.
In addition, CenturyLink/Lumen was awarded $414,920 and Charter was awarded $252,871. Each of those companies won funding for a single project.
The biggest winner was Inventive Wireless of Nebraska, also known as Vistabeam. The company won over $9.3 million for six projects. Vistabeam traditionally has been a fixed wireless provider but has begun to do some fiber deployments. The company, which installed its first fixed wireless customer in 2004, offers service in several states.
The next biggest winner was Nebraska provider ALLO Communications, which won over $6.7 million for nine projects. The company operates in Nebraska and other states.
Other companies winning at least $2 million in Nebraska broadband grant funding were all Nebraska companies. They were Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company, which won over $3.7 million; Glenwood Telecommunications, which will take home over $2.7 million; Pinpoint Communications (over $2.7 million), Great Plains Communications (over $2.6 million) and Stealth Broadband (nearly $2.2 million).
Nine companies in total won funding for 28 projects. Each project required a separate application, and the state received a total of 60 applications.
The awards were made through Nebraska’s Capital Projects Fund. This is the second round of funding in that program, which previously awarded $61 million a year ago.
Some of the same companies – ALLO, Great Plains, Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company, and Stealth — were winners last year and this year.
The awards will go toward deployments that will reach approximately 1,640 unserved and 1,570 underserved locations. Projects must be completed by December 2025.
The rules for Nebraska’s Capital Projects Fund program call for funding to go to builds in Congressional Districts 1 and 3 and for each district to get at least $40 million in grant funding.
Additional information about Nebraska broadband, including links to state funding resources, awards made, state specific Telecompetitor coverage and more, can be found on the Telecompetitor Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
